Immediate Family

About Huni "The Smiter" ., Pharaoh of Egypt

Huni was the father of Hetepheres I, the wife of Sneferu who was the first king of the next dynasty. Huni was succeeded by Sneferu according to the Papyrus Prisse ("The Instructions by Kagemni"), but it is not known if Sneferu was a son of Huni.

A certain Huni is mentioned amongst the names of high officials from the court of Djoser, and if this was indeed the same man as this pharaoh, it is possible that Huni came to the throne at a very venerable age. He is credited with a 24-year reign in the Turin King List.

Huni established a fortress on the island of Elephantine, securing the southern border of Egypt at the First Cataract.

Huni's vizier was a man named Kagemi.[4][5]

Huni is sometimes credited with building a great stepped pyramid at Meidum (larger than that of Djoser), which was supposedly left unfinished at the time of his death, thus his successor Snofru, it is said, completed it near the beginning of his reign. However, this theory comes out of a simple desire to have a significant monument attributed to Huni; there is no evidence whatsoever that the Meidum pyramid was his burial place. The name of Snofru, however, has been found at Meidum, and many of Snofru's children, particularly princes Nefermaat and Rahotep, have been buried in mastabas at the Meidum necropolis. Thus it seems more likely that it was Snofru who had the pyramid built and, later on during his reign, transformed it from the stepped pyramid into a true pyramid by having its sides smoothed. The pyramid has since collapsed, leaving only its core.

Another pyramid exists which was very likely built by Huni, but this is a small ceremonial pyramid the ruins of which have been found at Elephantine island. This pyramid was not a tomb, nor did it have a surrounding necropolis or temple complex: its real function and religious significance remain unknown. However, many of such small, ceremonial, pyramids have been found, built by Old Kingdom pharaohs throughout the kingdom of Egypt.

The Horus name of the king is so far not yet known for sure. However, in the late 1960s, the Louvre bought a relief showing a king Horus Qahedjet. For stylistical reasons the relief belongs to the Third Dynasty and it seems possible that it belongs to Huni, whose Horus-name it provides. -------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huni